Beyond Halves and Quarters in Microsoft Word

How can I make Microsoft Word XP recognize fractions other than halves and quarters? If I type 1/2 or 3/4, Word will automatically format these into nice, neat-looking fractions like 1/2 and 3/4. But it will not do the same for other numbers, such as 3/8 or 15/16. Being in construction, I frequently need to send critical dimensions to suppliers or subcontractors and would like my entire document to look professional.

Mark Gregory

The ANSI character set includes single characters representing the very common fractions 1/2, 1/4 and 3/4. These are the ones that Word creates for you through AutoCorrect. If you're using a Unicode font, you can insert several more by choosing Symbol from the Insert menu1/3, 2/3, 1/8, 3/8, 5/8, and 7/8. To see these characters, click the pull-down labeled Subset and choose "Number Forms." You can easily add AutoCorrect entries for these directly from the Insert Symbol dialog. Just highlight the character, click AutoCorrect, and enter the text that should be replaced by the fractionfor example, 1/3.

Now you can handle halves, quarters, thirds, and eighths, but sixteenths are still out of reach. One possibility is to create them using an equation field. Suppose you want to create the fraction 5/16. Press Ctrl+F9 to insert the curly braces that define a field. Between these braces enter "EQ \F(5,16)" (no quotes). With the insertion point between the curly braces, press Shift+F9. Then set the font size for the resulting equation to approximately one-half the size of the surrounding text. The result should look like this: 5 16. Highlight the fraction and choose AutoCorrect from the Tools menu. Just below the middle of the resulting dialog you'll see two boxes labeled Replace and With. The With box should contain your fraction, with "Formatted text" selected above it. Enter 5/16 in the Replace box and click OK. Now when you enter 5/16 you'll get the nicely formatted fraction. Repeat this process for all the other combinationsyes, it's tedious, but you only have to do it once.

If you prefer a diagonal-style fraction, you can type "EQ \s\up(5)/\s\do(16)" (again, no quotes) between the braces instead. In either case, you'll want to replace the existing 1/2, 1/4, and 3/4 entries, since either type of fraction produced by the equation field doesn't look quite the same as these.

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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